My character suffers from a land where homosexuality is forbidden unless it is only for sexual acts. He is repressed, but that is part of the plot. He reacts in a way any homosexual wolf would to him.
Adding on that his upbringing was that of 'I am king wolf, I must make peasant wolf bow down to king wolf' he has possession and controlling problems. These, as well, are part of the plot.
My character has many weaknesses and strengths- hopefully well balanced out and realistic.
He hides his sexuality via that he emotionally and physically is attached to the same gender by flirting with the opposite gender.
He literally created the homosexual ban, might I add!
In a sense, he is a control freak that could be seemingly be a dark, bad, emo-wulf guy. But he's simply a normal wolf that has reacted to his surroundings like anyone else would in his position. <3
I believe people like myself love characters with problems. Because that spices up our characters, giving them something to overcome and balance out. If they were given the chance to be role-played out a long time, they would be normal, happy wolves like you said.
I guess people like to be realistic. (shrugs)
See, this topic has me in a mumble jumble of feeling because it honestly depends for me. Its when a role-player can really pull off a dark or tragic character that I find it acceptable. The melodramatic, dark and tragic character, while indeed cliche and attention-seeking, can have both its ups and downs. Now, I'm not saying, "Oh, these types of characters are so overrated and annoying, nobody should play them", I'm saying something more along the lines of, "If you're going to play this type of character, make sure you can do it the right way." I'm very open-minded, since RP is an art that really doesn't have a per say, right way, but in this case, if you want to make sure you're not being that overly cliche person that people drone on about, then you have to play this type of character in the right way. Invest time into the character, just don't spit out a tragic backstory or an evil personality. Lay out the backstory in a chain of cause and effect, or perhaps give this said character some motivation or issues that would cause them to act in such a dark and evil way. Think of it logically of how some "evil" figure in today's time might have gotten that way.I will say that I do agree with what you said: that dark characters that are evil and/or have a tragic past can be great if written well. I have several characters who fall under one or both of these catagories. What I'm saying is that I think people should also try and put effort into making interesting characters that are nice, and that when they make evil characters with sad pasts, they should put more thought into them and make them interesting
Now, in addition to thinking out the character, you have to know how a character in said circumstances with said issues/motivations/goals would act. You can just say they'd go around, killing everyone, being gloomy, edgy, etc., because in reality, nobody actually does those things on a whim. To spice it up, have your character have an internal conflict, with more than one reason to do/not to do this evil deed. Also, character development plays a HUGE role in creating a successful evil character, as there is no such thing as a set personality since birth. Personality and ideology is something that is developed through life, which is likewise developed through RP.
I could probably drone on more about this subject, but I don't wanna drown you all out with an essay. xD I've been there and done that, as one of my most well RPed and most well rounded character is a psychopath, comparable to maybe, a character like Harley Quinn in order to give you more of an idea. But yeah, long story short, there's really nothing wrong with these types of characters as long as you put some time and care into them -deep breath, finally finished- xD
See, this topic has me in a mumble jumble of feeling because it honestly depends for me. Its when a role-player can really pull off a dark or tragic character that I find it acceptable. The melodramatic, dark and tragic character, while indeed cliche and attention-seeking, can have both its ups and downs. Now, I'm not saying, "Oh, these types of characters are so overrated and annoying, nobody should play them", I'm saying something more along the lines of, "If you're going to play this type of character, make sure you can do it the right way." I'm very open-minded, since RP is an art that really doesn't have a per say, right way, but in this case, if you want to make sure you're not being that overly cliche person that people drone on about, then you have to play this type of character in the right way. Invest time into the character, just don't spit out a tragic backstory or an evil personality. Lay out the backstory in a chain of cause and effect, or perhaps give this said character some motivation or issues that would cause them to act in such a dark and evil way. Think of it logically of how some "evil" figure in today's time might have gotten that way.I couldn't of said it better myself. xD As long as it has a good story to it and the personality makes sense and doesn't clash with the entirety of the rp, it's fine to have a dark character or one with a tragic past, or both.
Now, in addition to thinking out the character, you have to know how a character in said circumstances with said issues/motivations/goals would act. You can just say they'd go around, killing everyone, being gloomy, edgy, etc., because in reality, nobody actually does those things on a whim. To spice it up, have your character have an internal conflict, with more than one reason to do/not to do this evil deed. Also, character development plays a HUGE role in creating a successful evil character, as there is no such thing as a set personality since birth. Personality and ideology is something that is developed through life, which is likewise developed through RP.
I could probably drone on more about this subject, but I don't wanna drown you all out with an essay. xD I've been there and done that, as one of my most well RPed and most well rounded character is a psychopath, comparable to maybe, a character like Harley Quinn in order to give you more of an idea. But yeah, long story short, there's really nothing wrong with these types of characters as long as you put some time and care into them -deep breath, finally finished- xD
This.
ooOOooHH I am the ever-so-powerful, underworld princess, all-power-possessing, immortal, rare pup! You can't beat me! I possess every power in the world, I am immune to them, I am over 9000 years old and can't die!!!! I killed my whole pack because of my insanity!!!!
This is EXACTLY what I mean.
Honestly, I don't mind sad pasts or powers. It's just, THOSE ones who abuse the living days out of them.
I understand like, your parents died, or one parent died, since it happens often in real too, but going too overboard with it like "yeah, I killed mine because they grounded me for ten minutes" or "they were too weak and mortal" etc etc.
Powers... I don't mind them... It's just.... People who possess everything or abuse them.
Another thing that I've noticed is 'insane' people. Insanity doesn't mean going on rampages, killing everything. Insanity doesn't come from a small scratch this big bad guy caused. Insane doesn't mean op. Insane isn't the stories you read on creepy pasta wiki.
Insanity is a mental illness, and it's really different from that. I'd suggest you to look insanity up, its causes and what it does to you. There's few people that could actually pull off insane characters, and the key is: not what you see on the creepy pasta wiki. Most go by the popular one Jeff the Killer, which is SO unrealistic!
Speaking of mental illnesses, it's also a bit annoying when people give their characters some such as anxiety, depression, bipolar, etc etc. and don't do it correctly.
My point is- Don't make a character with sad past/powers/mental problems unless you experienced it yourself, or know how to PROPERLY roleplay it, know its symptoms, etc etc.